Rev. Dr. Robert M. Hardies; March 4, 2018

“Why is the Buddha crying?” asked a child who’d seen a figurine of a weeping Buddha. The answer to her question may offer a way forward through our own grief.

Rev. Dr. Rebecca Parker; February 25, 2018

Many voices speak to us as we chart our life’s path and consider our vocational calling. Whose call upon us matters most? Our parents? God? Our inner self? Or??? In the midst of many demands, how do we choose the “call” that we will answer? And what difference does it make?

NOTE: In the introduction to this sermon, W.H. Auden should have been identified as Dag Hammarskjold’s translator rather than as his life-partner. The nature of their relationship is not publicly known. Also, San Jose–not San Juan–is the capital of Costa Rica.

Rev. Rob Hardies, February 18, 2018

Mid-life crises: they’re not just for the middle-aged anymore. The poet David Whyte says they can occur “anytime that the tide of life seems to have left us stranded on the beach.” Reconnecting with our vocation and purpose in life can get us moving again.

Rev. Dr. Joanne Braxton, February 11, 2018

How do we sustain our gifts of vocation and calling through seasons of moral ambiguity? How might wonder and awe help us as we seek to move toward transformative cultures of care and justice?

Rev. Dr. Robert M. Hardies, February 4, 2018

A poignant line from a favorite hymn goes: “Disappointment pierced me through, still I kept on loving you.” What do we do when we feel let down by the people and the communities that we love? How can disappointment and failure be a doorway to greater religious commitment?

Rev. Dr. Robert M. Hardies, January 21, 2018

“In order to understand the world,” wrote Camus, “one has to turn away from it on occasion.” More than anything else, we must be fully present to both the beauty and brokenness of the world, if we are to help redeem it. But to be fully present over the long haul, we must sometimes take time away from the world. How do we strike a balance between engagement and retreat?

Rev. Dr. Robert M. Hardies, January 7, 2018

To be awake is to be present to the fullness of our lives; ours joys and sorrows, perils and possibilities. This Sunday we take stock of our lives and our world, and ask how to begin the New Year with heart, soul, and strength, focused always on our mission of Building the Beloved Community.

Rev. Dr. Joanne Braxton, December 31, 2017

We gather together to celebrate Kwanzaa. As a spiritual and religious community, we will give thanks and invite blessings as we move to into a New Year.

Rev. Dr. Robert M. Hardies, December 11, 2017

Rev. Dr. Robert M. Hardies, December 3, 2017

The popular hymn “Amazing Grace” includes the line, “Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved.” How does grace give us the courage to face our fears?

Rev. Dr. Robert M. Hardies, November 26, 2017

Rev. Rob Keith, November 19, 2017

As people committed to love and justice in today’s world, it’s fair to say that we have “counter cultural” aspirations. And yet we’re still products of the larger culture, so it’s easy to accidentally reinforce the status quo rather than challenging it. What would it look like to truly liberate our hearts, minds, and bodies?

Rev. Dr. Robert M. Hardies, November 5, 2017

On All Souls Sunday we remember those in our community who have died over the last twelve months and consider what death means for us, the living. How can our contemplation of death point us back to life? When death comes, what consolation and understanding does our Unitarian Universalist faith offer us?

Rev. Dr. Robert M. Hardies, October 29, 2017

I once heard Cornel West observe that while our smartphones keep getting smarter, we’re not getting any wiser. “Smart is for phones,” he said, “let the people be wise.” This morning we explore how our “high-tech, low-touch” society impacts our spirits, as well as our capacity for resilience and wisdom.

Rev. Dr. Rebecca Parker, October 22, 2017

The strength to hold on and the flexibility to let go—resilience is born from both. In countering the toxins of white supremacy, how do we deepen our spiritual wisdom to know what is most needed at any given time? How do we create a resilient faith community that engages our different identities, communities of accountability, histories, and choices in the struggle for just and sustainable life for us all? This Sunday’s sermon honors the call from Black Lives of Unitarian Universalism for Unitarian Universalists across the country to hold a second “White Supremacy Teach-In.” It will be followed on Wednesday evening, October 25, 7-9 p.m. with a “Teach In and Topics-In-Formation” session on “Countering White Supremacy” for further discussion and exploration.

Rev. Dr. Robert M. Hardies, October 15, 2017

Income inequality has reached Gilded Age proportions. Nations build walls along borders and declare some human beings “illegal.” Aid to the poor and vulnerable is on the chopping block while corporate America awaits another tax cut. Big money, foreign hackers, and vote suppressors undermine our democracy. This Sunday I want to lift up a different vision, a vision of a world of generosity, mutuality, and justice–a shared world.

Rev. Dr. Joanne Braxton, October 8, 2017

What if the Balm in Gilead is to be discovered from within as a source of resilience? Our individual experiences may leave us wounded, but in community they may also give us the tools that we need to help others who have suffered similar wounds.

Rev. Dr. Robert M. Hardies, October 2, 2017

Every year on the Sunday closest to Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, we explore themes of forgiveness and reconciliation and end our service with the words of our Litany of Atonement: “We forgive ourselves. We forgive each other. We begin again in love.” There can be no new beginnings—no resilience of spirit or community—without atonement, forgiveness and reconciliation.

Rev. Dr. Robert M. Hardies, September 24, 2017

“Not a moment but a movement,” has become a popular slogan in progressive circles, a reminder that our social justice work must go beyond mere resistance to the immediate political crisis, and strive to build a lasting movement for justice and equality. As people of faith committed to building beloved community, we understand this. Yet I would argue that as people of faith we seek something beyond the moment and the movement. I would argue that our current climate of division and suspicion and fear offers the possibility of an even deeper transformation, a spiritual and moral transformation. This Sunday I share what’s at stake religiously in this moment.

Rev. Dr. Susan Newman Moore – September 17, 2017

Many of our life events are not planned with a timeline, goals, and objectives. Often the most valuable lessons come to us like unexpected guest, and we learn what it really means to say “Welcome!

UUA President Rev. Susan Frederick-Gray, September 10, 2017

In times such as these, community becomes essential. Beloved community nurtures our dreams, our humanity, our capacity for compassion, and yes, our collective courage. Join Rev. Hardies, UUA President Susan F. Gray, and our Festival Choir for a celebratory, intergenerational Homecoming Sunday focused on racial justice and beloved community.

Rev. Dr. Rebecca M. Parker, September 3, 2017

The value of education has become a controversial topic in our nation. Our Unitarian forbears, however, pioneered a transformative spiritual understanding of education that can illuminate what is at stake now. In honor of the beginning of a new school year, in appreciation of teachers and students everywhere, and aware of the challenges before our society, how might we re-imagine teaching and learning as essential to our souls and our calling to build beloved community?

Rev. Dr. Robert M. Hardies, August 27, 2017

On the day after the violence in Charlottesville, a gay dad and his multiracial son board a train for a trip across Trump’s America, in part because the son loves trains … in part because the father wants to reclaim America for his family. What did they learn along the way?

Rev. Dr. Robert M. Hardies, August 20, 2017

Rev. Hardies returns to the All Souls pulpit this Sunday for our annual “Questions of Faith” service, when he responds to your questions about faith, spirituality, and current events. We are living through times in which many of the values and people we cherish are threatened, and Rev. Hardies is eager to know what you’re wrestling with during these troubling times. Submit a question to our communications director Gary Penn (gpenn@allsouls.ws). Gary will collect your submissions and send them to our lay worship associates, who will select from among the questions. On Sunday, Rev. Hardies will address as many as time permits.

Rev. Dr. Susan Newman Moore, August 13, 2017

No matter who you are, where you live, what you do in life – each morning you awaken, you’re given another opportunity to chart your life’s course.

Rabbi Alana Suskin, July 23, 2017

For Jews, this summer includes three weeks of mourning leading up the saddest day in our calendar, the 9th of the month of Av. This was the day Jerusalem fell and the temple was destroyed. That moment of our history turns out to be, in many ways, the defining one of Jewish memory and a pivotal event in the creation of rabbinic (modern day) Judaism.

Rev. Dr. Dennis Wiley, July 16, 2017

Rev. Rob Keithan, July 9, 2017

Rev. Dr. Susan Newman Moore, July 2, 2017

Frederick Douglass was an outspoken and eloquent critic of the institution of slavery. On July 5, 1852, he delivered a speech before a large audience of New York abolitionists: “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” He attended Unitarian churches. While visiting President Lincoln he worshiped at the First Unitarian Church of Washington, DC – now All Souls Church, Unitarian. If he were alive, what message would he deliver to us on this Fourth of July?

Rev. Dr. Rebecca Parker, June 25, 2017

Sometimes love asks more of us that we feel we can do. Sometimes love seems powerless in the face of overwhelming difficulties. From the challenges in our personal circumstances, family life or workplaces to the global struggles to resist great evils such as war, racism, and ecological destruction—-what do we do when love feels inadequate to the task or calls us beyond our strength? How do we find what Martin Luther King Jr. called the “strength to love.”

Rev. Dr. Robert M. Hardies, June 18, 2017

One of my favorite lines from my favorite All Souls hymns goes: “Disappointment pierced me through, still I kept on loving you.” For love to endure, it must be willing to change and adapt. How can we learn to love in ways that are supple, flexible and resilient?

Rev. Dr. Robert M. Hardies, June 11, 2017

Henry David Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience”—his ode to the prophetic power of conscience—inspired both Gandhi and Dr. King. Thoreau’s life and writings offer many lessons on the persistence and courage that love requires in difficult times. As we mark Thoreau’s 200th birthday, we may discover that he is more relevant in the Age of Trump than ever before.

Reverend Dr. Robert M. Hardies, May 28, 2017

In her poem “What I’ve Learned from the Dark” Julia Fehrenbacher writes, “It seems we must be stripped/of the skin/of all we think beautiful/before we open to the kind of beauty/that can’t go away.” Sometimes our struggles with loss and sorrow help us discover the source of our strength and resilience.

Rev. Dr. Susan Newman Moore, May 21, 2017

Have you ever felt like you’re losing your way? Things just don’t feel right. You can’t pinpoint it, but it’s something going on in your life. Something is missing. Something is different. Something slipping away. Life is sending you a message – listen.

Rev. Dr. Robert M. Hardies, May 14, 2017

Johnnie Aseron, April 30, 2017

Guest preacher, Johnnie Aseron, executive director for the Inter-National Initiative for Transformative Collaboration and former coordinator of wellness and inter-faith events at Oceti Sakowin camp on the Standing Rock Reservation, will talk about experiences and insights through an Oceti Sakowin Camp lens.

Rev. Dr. Robert M. Hardies, April 16, 2017

Though weeping endures for the night, joy will come in the morning. Therefore we must live, said Thoreau, with “an infinite expectation of the dawn.” Please join us for two glorious Easter services at 9:30 and 11:15 am, followed by an Easter egg hunt for the children.

Rev. Dr. Robert M. Hardies, April 9, 2017

Passover celebrates the story of how the Hebrew people mustered courage and took risks to liberate themselves from a tyrant called Pharaoh. How does this ancient story speak to our present moment?

Rev. Rob Keithan, April 2, 2017

Sometimes events in our lives—or in our world—are so challenging that we’re plunged into discomfort and uncertainty. How can we take advantage of this opportunity to evolve into something new, rather than just reforming into old patterns?

Rev. Dr. Rebecca Parker, March 26, 2017

“The world is too broken to be healed by one pair of hands,” Rev. Rob Hardies has said. To “see, savor, and save” the world we must join hands with others. Aiming to “co-exist” in a religiously pluralistic world is a good goal, but more is needed. Now is the time for people of diverse faiths, cultures, and life circumstances to “co-resist” the forces of evil and injustice in our world. What does multi-faith, sacred activism offer and ask of us?

Rev. Dr. Robert M. Hardies, March 19, 2017

The activist Angela Davis once said something that seems to speak to our present moment: “I’m no longer accepting things I cannot change. I’m changing things I cannot accept.” How can our attention and love for the world fuel our efforts to save it? Last of a three-part series called “See, Savor and Save: A Spiritual Path for Difficult Times.”

Rev. Dr. Rebecca Parker, March 12, 2017

We are bombarded with desire-stimulating advertising, but what truly satisfies the deepest desires of our hearts?  The feminist essayist Susan Griffin writes, “For this is the meaning of desire, that wanting leads us to the sacred.”  Spiritual traditions that honor eros, affirm desire, and invite us to savor the goodness of life here and now can teach us something important about how to live in these difficult times.  Second of a three-part series called, “See, Savor and Save: A Spiritual Path for Difficult Times.”

Rev. Dr. Robert M. Hardies, March 5, 2017

More than a set of beliefs, religion is a way of seeing the world. Many traditions teach that attention to the world is the first step toward loving and saving it. How can we remain fully alert and attentive to both the beauty and brokenness of our world? And how can that attention fuel our efforts to save our world? First of a three-part series called “See, Savor and Save: A Spiritual Path for Difficult Times.”

Rev. Dr. Rosemary Bray McNatt, February 26, 2017

We are less than 40 days into the new administration, and progressive religious people seem torn between the pragmatic and the prophetic. What stances could we take that are most faithful to the Holy’s call upon our lives?

The Rev. Rosemary Bray McNatt is president of Starr King School for the Ministry in Berkeley, CA, and the author of a memoir, Unafraid of the Dark.

Rev. Dr. Robert M. Hardies, February 19, 2017

How can we treat one another with tenderness in a time of vitriol and scorn?

Rev. Dr. Robert M. Hardies, February 12, 2017

Compassion is an essential ingredient in the Beloved Community. In these dark times, our ability to summon compassion could mean the difference between a long, dark night and the dawning of a new day.

Rev. Dr. Joanne M. Braxton, February 5, 2017

Friends, we are called to compassion and empathy in dangerous times. How do we sustain the gifts of the spirit: joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control in the face of insult and injury? How is it possible to see and resist systemic evil and remain centered in one’s own grounded spiritual ecology—until the glory finally comes?

Dr. Joanne Braxton is a native Washingtonian born to a father who was a machinist at the DC Navy Yard and a mother who worked at the Census Bureau. A graduate of Yale University and the Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology, Dr. Braxton is widely published. She is currently David B. Larson Fellow in Spirituality and Health at the Library of Congress John W. Kluge Center.

Rev. Dr. Robert M. Hardies, January 29, 2017

Rev. Hardies returns to the pulpit his weekend for the second sermon in a two-part series called “Truth and Love in the Age of Trump.” This week we focus on love and solidarity. Rochelle Rice and her trio will offer music that inspires and delights.

Dr. Melissa Harris-Perry, January 22, 2017 – 11:15 a.m.

On the weekend of the Women’s March on Washington—and on the first Sunday of a new administration—we are delighted to welcome to All Souls professor, author, Unitarian, and former MSNBC host Melissa Harris-Perry, one of our nation’s pre-eminent African American public intellectuals. Dr. Harris-Perry will share words of wisdom and courage for the road that lies ahead.

Rev. Dr. Robert M. Hardies, January 8, 2017

The Oxford Dictionary named “post-truth” its 2016 Word of the Year. How can we be faithful to the truth when so many have cast it aside?

Rev. Dr. Rebecca Parker, January 1, 2017

Lift ev’ry voice and sing,
Till earth and heaven ring,
Ring with the harmonies of liberty!

On the night of December 31, 1862, weary but hopeful people gathered in churches across the land to watch and pray for the long-awaited announcement of freedom. On January 1, 1863, Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation and a new day dawned. In the spirit of the Black Church’s “Watch Night” traditions we will gather on New Year’s Day 2017 to ‘pray the old year out and pray the new year in.’ We will remember struggles now past, the struggles still with us, and devote ourselves anew to “Imani”—the seventh principle of Kwanza—keeping faith in the struggle for liberations yet to be.

Rev. Dr. Robert M. Hardies, December 18, 2016

Our vespers hymn goes “Within our darkest night, you kindle the fire that never dies away.” As we celebrate the solstice and prepare our hearts for Christmas, we seek light in the darkness.

Rev. Dr. Rebecca Parker, December 11, 2016

Rev. Dr. Robert M. Hardies, December 4, 2016

People often ask what gives me hope. Yet hope isn’t so much a gift as it is a spiritual discipline. It is the fruit of conscious decisions and actions that we take in our lives. Hope is a journey.

Rev. Dr. Rebecca Parker, November 27, 2016

We remember the first Thanksgiving as an iconic story of native peoples and pilgrims coming together in peace. But that peace held only for a brief moment. Today, the water protectors at Standing Rock, North Dakota, summon us to protect sacred land and water for future generations—and to right the wrongs done to indigenous peoples in North America. To do so, we need to better understand the role our Puritan forbearers played in the legacies that haunt our national conscience still and heed the ancestral voices that cry out for healing for the earth and “all our relations.”

Rev. Dr. Robert M. Hardies, November 20, 2017

After a polarizing presidential campaign, many of us will return home for Thanksgiving to families and communities that are still divided. How can we heal the many divisions in our nation? Who is welcome at our table?

Rev. Dr. Robert M. Hardies, November 13, 2016

Rev. Dr. Robert M. Hardies, November 6, 2016

How do we cultivate gratitude as a posture for our living and our dying? We ask this question on All Souls Day as we remember and give thanks for those in our community who have died over the past year.

Rev. Dr. Rebecca Parker, October 30, 2016

Generosity gives life meaning and joy. But sometimes we give and give and end up broken-hearted when our giving fails to accomplish what we’d hoped. After such a loss, how do we learn to give again?

Rev. Dr. Robert M. Hardies, October 23, 2016

Rev. Dr. Robert M. Hardies, October 16, 2016

To be a person of faith is to believe that what others call “impossible” is, in fact, possible. We are called to be the people who make the impossible possible.

Generosity Sunday is the day we bring forth or pledges of financial support for the upcoming church year.

Rev. Karen Tse, October 9, 2016

In this justice struggle, hope lies within the human heart. Rev Tse will share her reflections on the movement to end torture as an investigative tool through early access to counsel and the tenacious generosity of heart that sometimes makes the seemingly impossible possible.

Karen Tse, international human rights lawyer, UU minister, and former public defender, founded International Bridges to Justice in 2000 to promote systemic global change in criminal justice. IBJ aims to end torture as an investigative tool by providing early access to counsel. Karen has trained the Cambodia’s first core group of public defenders, served as a United Nations Judicial Mentor, trained judges and prosecutors in Cambodia, and negotiated measures for judicial reform in China, Vietnam and Cambodia. Under her leadership, IBJ has expanded its programming to Rwanda, Burundi, Zimbabwe, and India. IBJ’s Global Defense Support Program brings assistance to public defenders worldwide, sponsors independent Justice Makers in 25 countries, and currently has a presence in over 40 countries. A graduate of UCLA Law School and Harvard Divinity School, Karen is a recipient of the Skoll Award for Social Innovation, Gleitsman International Award, Harvard Kennedy School Award, American Bar Association Human Rights Award, and was named by the US News and World Report as one of America’s Best Leaders.

Rev. Dr. Robert M. Hardies, October 2, 2016

From its beginning Unitarian Universalism has confronted the prophets of fear and hate with a message of love. Now more than ever we are called to continue that legacy. Last in the sermon series, “Being the Beloved Community in Turbulent Times.”

Rev. Dr. Susan Newman Moore, September 25, 2016

Rev. Dr. Robert M. Hardies, September 18, 2016

In world filled with violence and terror, we face daily temptations to turn our back on the Beloved Community. How do we cultivate souls that allow us to resist this temptation? How do we keep the faith in times of terror? Second in the sermon series, “Being the Beloved Community in Turbulent Times.”

Rev. Dr. Robert M. Hardies, September 11, 2016

On the 15th anniversary of 9/11 we reflect on what we learned that difficult season about what it means to be the Beloved Community in times of terror. How can those lessons inform our current struggles to live faithfully in turbulent times? Join us on Homecoming Sunday for an intergenerational service featuring a combined Festival Choir and a Story for All Ages. First in the sermon series, “Being the Beloved Community in Turbulent Times.” We return to our regular church year schedule: two worship services at 9:30 and 11:15 am.

Michael Milano, September 4, 2016

We often talk of “Building the Beloved Community,” but that is only half the reality. The other half is that it is we who are built and transformed by the evolution of the Beloved Community. We will consider the implications of a well-known model for transitions to look at some beliefs we hold about how change and transition works…and how the building and being built by Beloved Community might work. When we switch our lens from “change” to “deep transition” our entire way of thinking about what is going on is altered. Through the lens of transition, we will consider what has to end—what we might have to give up—to make space for what is to emerge. And what is to emerge cannot be fully known today. Many of the notions we hold about change actually get in the way of making successful transitions. Together, by looking at our personal experiences of transitions, we will confirm some of the core beliefs we hold about this deep transition we call Beloved Community…and together we will also profoundly challenge other beliefs we have about our journey to Beloved Community.